


Sleepwalking Past Hope

by xrosyaffair



Category: Super Junior
Genre: Blood and Gore, F/M, Heavy Angst, Horror, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-05
Updated: 2014-08-02
Packaged: 2018-02-07 13:17:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 15,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1900353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xrosyaffair/pseuds/xrosyaffair
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A zombie outbreak occurs, causing the lives of a group of seniors and juniors in a Seoul high school to change dramatically.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One Second

**Author's Note:**

> I gotta thank my soulmate for the title, which comes from a HIM song, so shouldn't we really thank HIM??? Hmm...
> 
> Also, this chapter is shorter than the rest of them will be, and it'll get better, I promise you. ^^

One second is all it takes to fuck everything up. It only takes one second for someone’s life to change. 

In a high school in Seoul, Lee Hyukjae was drawing on his boyfriend’s, Lee Donghae, arm with sharpie during homeroom. Henry Lau, in a boring math class, was passing notes with his best friend of 15 years, Zhou Mi. Until Zhou Mi was only focused on his boyfriend, Kyuhyun again. Jungsu and Youngwoon were kissing underneath the bleachers, while Kibum was sitting on the top row, reading a book. Jongwoon, in a composition class, was day dreaming about Kim Heechul again, while Heechul was drawing in a notebook in the desk next to Jongwoon. Hangeng was in the cafeteria, studying for a test next period. Donghee was talking to his girlfriend at her locker. Ryeowook was eating lunch in the bathroom. Sungmin was in the library during his free period, messing around on the computers. And Siwon was talking to a guidance officer about the bullying problem in the school. Everything was completely normal. One second passed and nothing was ever the same again. 

At the sight of the first zombie, no one in the classroom took it seriously. The first one stumbled into room 213, the math room Henry, Zhou Mi, and Kyuhyun were currently in. Everyone just stared at the fellow classmate as he shuffled into the room. Henry was close to laughing until the classmate bit the teacher’s shoulder, sending blood flying. Then he didn’t feel the urge to laugh anymore. 

A wave of shock and disbelief reverberated around the classroom. It was silent for only a few second until someone started screaming bloody murder. Out of the corner of his eye, Henry saw Zhou Mi grab onto Kyuhyun’s arm and start leading him to the front of the classroom. Even in a moment where he could die, Henry still felt jealous of Kyuhyun. 

_How pathetic am I?_

Henry saw the zombie start moving up the row he had been sitting in, so he quickly followed after Zhou Mi and Kyuhyun. He ran out of the room and wasn’t shocked to find half of the school now crowding the hallway. Even in this rush of bodies, Henry still found Zhou Mi’s red hair almost instantly. He ran to his friend and grabbed onto his arm. 

“Can I come with you two?” _Why do I feel the need to ask? It’s Zhou Mi, for crying out loud! He’s my best friend, he would never push me away._

“Oh god, Henry, I’m sorry I left you behind.” Zhou Mi grabbed tightly onto Henry’s damp hand. 

Henry choose not to respond (was there really anything you could say in this situation?) and just concentrated on running and not falling. While running, he spotted Sungmin standing in the library doorway, looking confused. 

“Sungmin!” Henry grabbed Sungmin’s arm and forced him to run with the other three. “Hyung, you’re okay!” 

“Henry, what’s going on?!” Sungmin had to scream to be heard over the fearful screams of their classmates. 

“I think there’s zombies, hyung.” 

\--- 

Donghae wasn’t sure how he got separated from Hyukjae, he just knew that one second his boyfriend was there, and he wasn’t the next. 

The two had been doing nothing in homeroom when a white faced Lim Yoona walked into the room. She started stuttering about how there was zombies or something. The teacher then gave an impromptu speech about what the teens should do. After the lecture, the kids all stood up, but Donghae forgot something important, so he just turned away for a second. Once he turned back, Hyukjae and everyone else in the class was filing out of the room. But, for some reason, he couldn’t spot his boyfriend. 

Donghae quickly ran out of the room and looked around desperately for Hyukjae, but he was no where to be found. Donghae eventually started running down the halls, screaming his lover’s name over and over again, hoping for an answer. 

He never got one. 

\--- 

“What the hell was that noise?” Youngwoon pulled away from his boyfriend to glance around. 

“What noise?” Jungsu asked, his lips abused and red. 

Youngwoon quickly shuffled out from underneath the bleachers. He hit the side of the structure hard to get Kibum’s attention. The slightly younger boy glanced down at Youngwoon, not taking the book away from his face. 

“Did you hear a noise, Kibum-ah?” 

Kibum looked around the empty gym. He only saw the man below him and a few basketballs scattered around. “There’s not even anyone here.” 

“Not in here. Out there.” Youngwoon gestured out to the hallway from the open gym doors. 

Kibum was carefully looking out into the hallway when a person almost tripped into the room. Kibum was as calm as ever. “Someone’s here.” 

Youngwoon turned around and was shocked when the teenage corpse tried to grasp at his shirt. He pushed the kid away, but he didn’t stay down. The kid got back up and opened his jaw to flash his teeth at Youngwoon. Then he moved in to bite Youngwoon’s throat… 

Until Jungsu, a fire extinguisher in hand, swung the weapon at the boy’s head. There was a loud crack as the boy fell onto the hard gym floor. Bright red blood and purple-ish white pieces surrounded the corpse’s head. 

“Is that his _brain_?” Jungsu asked, shocked by the color of the squishy pieces of _something_ covering the floor. 

“Shit, what just happened?” Youngwoon asked, breathing heavy. 

Kibum put his bookmark into his book, closed it, put it in his back pocket of his jeans, and jumped down so he was level with the couple. “Do you think we should run?” Kibum asked, calm and looking slightly bored. 

“Jesus, why can’t you ever act normal?! A fucking zombie just tried to bite my neck!!” Youngwoon yelled. 

“Youngwoon, leave him alone.” Jungsu said sternly. He was about to say something else when he heard a noise coming from the hallway. A few seconds later, shadows were covering the wall, getting closer and closer to the gym. 

“We need to leave. Now.” Jungsu said urgently. He grabbed onto Youngwoon’s hand and the two of them, Kibum following calmly behind them, ran like their lives depended on it. 

And, really, didn’t they?


	2. Hell

Donghae was now in the safety of outside. The two places-the school and outside-seemed to be set in two different worlds. One was calm and peaceful, the other was dangerous and ruined. And the love of his life was probably still in the dangerous world.

Donghae could not stop thinking about his boyfriend. How scared he must be. How alone he must feel. Donghae wanted nothing more than to find him and kiss him until they both were blue in the face. He wanted to tell Hyukjae how much he loved him, how much he needed him. He needed to see him again, to touch him again, to breathe him in. Donghae was almost in physical pain because of how much he wanted and needed Hyukjae.

Instead of going back into Hell, Donghae rested by the bike rack in the front of the school. He would wait until Hyukjae came out. He would wait forever if he needed to.

After nearly a painful hour of waiting, Donghae’s shoulder was suddenly pushed against. He turned and didn’t even try to keep the disappointment off his face. It was Heechul and Hangeng.

If Heechul saw Donghae’s expression, he didn’t acknowledge it. “Donghae, are you okay?”

_Why lie about it?_ “No. I don’t know where Hyukjae is. I don’t know what to do, Chul.” He felt tears fill his sore eyes.

Heechul, never being one to express emotions freely or feel comfortable with others expressing their own feelings, rubbed Donghae’s arm as a way to comfort him. In truth, Heechul felt protective over him since the two had known each other since they were both six years old. Donghae was a little brother to him.

“It’s going to be okay, Hae. You’ll find him. But, for now, we should probably run.” Heechul said calmly.

“No way. I can’t leave him. He could be-”

“I know, damn it, I know! But we need to go! Hangeng said he has the perfect place for us to go to, okay? We’ll be safe there. And then you can message Hyukjae and tell him where we are. Is that alright, Hae?”

Donghae fought with his inner dreams for quite some time. He could either wait here and risk his safety or he could go with Heechul and Hangeng and end up risking Hyukjae’s safety. In the end, he started running with Heechul and Hangeng.

\---

Ryeowook had been taking small, tentative bites of his tuna sandwich when he heard the bathroom door open. He was used to people walking into the restroom while he was eating. Sometimes it turned out to be one of the guys that tease him, but mostly it was fellow classmates that didn’t even know he was there.

This time, he heard a strange gurgling sound. And it sounded like the person was walking right towards the stall Ryeowook was currently in. He quickly threw the remainder of his sandwich in the trash bin and stood up, blood pressure increasing. He screamed when the person hit the stall door. His scream seemed to make the person want to mess with him more because he kept hitting the door.

Ryeowook started panicking even more. He didn’t know what to do. Sure, it could be one of the many bullies, but they had never made those disturbing sounds before, and they usually taunted Ryeowook, but this person wasn’t saying anything.

The person got onto their knees and stuck their arm under the stall, grabbing the bottom of Ryeowook’s pants. He shrieked and jumped away. The hand looked to be decomposing slightly. The skin that should have been pale was instead a strange green color. The veins on the arm were popping out and were bright purple. It was the most disturbing thing Ryeowook had ever seen in his short life.

Without realizing he was doing it, Ryeowook started wishing for his secret (maybe not that secret) crush, Sungmin, to come save him from whoever was screwing with him. But stuff like that only happens in the movies.

“Help me!!! Someone help me!!!” Ryeowook started crying once the person on the other side started slamming their fists against the door. Why did everyone have to mess with him?

Ryeowook, staring at the blurred door, almost didn’t notice how the banging had stopped. When he did notice, he just stood, too scared to move. Too scared to breathe. Too scared to hope for the best.

“Who’s there?” A voice came from the other side of the door.

Ryeowook glanced down and saw the body that was the owner of the veiny, diseased arm was now on the floor, blood creating a halo effect around the head. Whoever was out there had helped him, that much was obvious.

“It’s Ryeowook. Kim Ryeowook. Who’s out there?” _And are you here to hurt me too?_

“Ryeowook? It’s Mr. Choi.”

_My english teacher_? Ryeowook, even though Mr. Choi was a nice enough man, felt nervous to walk out into the open. Mr. Choi had always acted strange around him. Maybe it was because Ryeowook was always being bullied so he felt the need to protect the boy? Whatever it was, something about the teacher made Ryeowook nervous.

Still, out there had to be better than staying in this near suffocating stall.

Ryeowook quickly unlocked the door and was greeted by the sight of the now dead body laying on the ground, its skull neatly crushed in from the pressure Mr. Choi had put on it. Ryeowook then looked up at Mr. Choi. Despite the fact that he was holding a bloody towel dispenser (how he got that off the wall, Ryeowook really didn’t care), he looked pretty much the same as he usually did. Mr. Choi is a small, weak 27 year old man. Like Ryeowook, when Mr. Choi was in high school, he was made fun of for his small body and his lack of muscles. And, as usual, Mr. Choi had an almost sleazy smile present on his face.

“Are you okay, Ryeowook?” Mr. Choi asked. He stepped forward to check Ryeowook’s body for any wounds, but the young boy flinched back. Mr. Choi sadly put his hand back to his side and smiled meekly at his student.

“I’m fine. Thank you for saving me.” Ryeowook glanced at the body again. “What...what was wrong with him?”

“Well…” Mr. Choi cleared his throat, for the dramatics or because he really needed to, Ryeowook doesn’t know. “We believe that there has been an outbreak.”

\---

The first place Hyukjae ran to after he escaped from the newfound Hell was his house. He had to make sure his family was okay. He didn’t know what he would do if they weren’t. It took only five minutes to get there, but it was the longest five minutes of his life.

He hopped over the fence surrounding his house’s front yard and quickly ran to the front door. His shaking hand had trouble gripping the key in his pocket, but he eventually got it and unlocked the door. He stumbled inside and was greeted by an eerie silence. It was almost too quiet.

“Mom? Dad? Sora?” Hyukjae went through every room in the house, the kitchen being his last stop. Which is where he saw the note.

_**Hyukjae,** _

_**We hope you are safe. The three of us had to go someplace safe. We are sorry that you are on your own. Please try to find us.** _

_**-We love you.** _

Hyukjae set the note down and fought the urge to cry. There wasn’t many places his family would go, or maybe he just couldn’t think properly, he didn’t know for sure. He was still trying to think of where his family would be when he heard the front door slam shut.


	3. Disorder

Hyukjae grabbed the closest weapon he could find-a knife laying atop the kitchen counter-and turned to face his predator. He lifted the knife and-

“Hyukjae, it’s me!” Once he opened his eyes, Hyukjae was greeted to the sight of his best friend since in utero, Shin Donghee. Hyukjae threw the knife onto the counter and hugged his friend tightly.

“Donghee! You’re okay!” Hyukjae, now not able to fight his tears, let the tears roll freely down his cheek. “I was worried about you! Are you really okay?”

“Of course I’m okay.” Donghee messed with his hair self consciously. “I was actually really worried about you because I saw your boyfriend freaking out about you. He lost you, I’m guessing?” After Hyukjae nodded, he continued to speak. “So I figured you would be most worried about your family, so I knew where you were going to be.”

Hyukjae’s heart sank to the bottom of his feet. _Donghae_ … “Do you know if he’s alright? Donghae, I mean.”

“Last time I saw him, he was still in the school.”

“We have to go back, Donghee. We have to make sure-”

“Look, Hyukjae.” Donghee put up his hand to stop his friend from talking. “I know you love him and all that, but don’t we have more things to worry about? We’re being invaded by zombies, for god’s sake.”

“Don’t give me that shit.” Hyukjae said bitterly, glaring at Donghee. “I don’t see Eunji with you. I’m guessing you’re worried to death about her, right? Don’t even give me any bullshit.”

“Of course I am. But I’m actually thinking practical. If we get a shit ton of weapons-”

“We have to find him! Let’s just grab and few knives and then we can go look for them, okay? Please, Donghee. He could be in danger, he could be hurt. I need to find him!”

Donghee sighed and looked away as his friend lost his cool again, breaking down in loud, body racking sobs. “Hyukjae...we’ll go look for them. We need a place to stay, though. Do you want to stay here? Or is it too-”

Hyukjae looked at his house through tear filled eyes. “We can’t stay here. We have to keep looking for them. I don’t care if it means sleeping outside, hell, I don’t even care if I die right now. I just need to find him.”

Donghee sighed. “Alright, fine. Let’s go then.”

\---

After an hour of running, Sungmin, Henry, Kyuhyun, and Zhou Mi were currently resting against the big stone local library building, attempting to catch their breath. But Henry was too agitated to keep his mouth shut (which is how it usually is).

“Does anybody want to tell me what the _fuck_ the idea is.” Henry practically spat every word. He didn’t even know why he was so angry, and he knows he shouldn’t be taking it out on his friends. But if he didn’t take his anger out on someone, he would probably go insane.

“We need to have a place to hide or something, I don’t know. Why don’t you come up with an idea instead of yelling at us?” Kyuhyun replied, snarky as ever.

“We don’t even have any weapons, guys. We could die out here.” Sungmin whimpered.

“There’s not much we can do. We should stay hidden from these...things. We shouldn’t try to fight them.” Zhou Mi said calmly.

“Fine, then where are we staying?” Henry asked.

“We could start here.” Kyuhyun gestured to the building they were leaning against.

When the foursome walked into the building, they all noticed the same two things. How dark it was and how cold it was. The library had always been a bright place, had always been a place that felt happy. But the library now made the four feel empty and scared. What had happened in the school had felt like a nightmare, none of it real. But, with the library as proof, it was clear that this nightmare had leaked into the outside world too. And it was changing everything.

“Jesus, it’s cold in here.” Henry said at the same time Kyuhyun said nearly the same thing. Zhou Mi quickly took off his jacket and set it on Kyuhyun’s shoulders. Henry looked away before he could see the flirty looks they gave each other.

_I’m absolutely ridiculous. The zombie apocalypse doesn’t make me stop feeling jealous of their relationship for one god damn second? Why do I care so much anyway? Their relationship is fucking-_

“Henry, do you want to wear my jacket?” Sungmin asked, already starting to take off his sequined jacket.

“No, it’s okay, hyung. You can keep it. I like the cold anyway.” Henry flashed Sungmin a brief, but still bright, smile. Once Sungmin turned away, the smile was off his face and he was back to feeling bitter and selfish.

“We can’t stay here.” Kyuhyun nearly whispered. “I don’t think I’d be able to…” “It’s just a little creepy. It’s nothing we can’t handle.” Henry, sick of the slow pace everyone else was walking at, started walking quicker and ended up behind the desk where the old librarians used to check out books for people who would never visit this place again, nor would they ever read again probably. Where the hell were those ladies anyway?

Henry got his answer once fingers tightly grasped his wrist. Then he saw the face pop up from underneath the old wooden desk he swears has always been here. The old librarian opened her jaw and Henry fought to find his voice.

“Henry!” Sungmin yelled as he swung a hardcover novel onto the librarian’s head, causing the old lady to fall down and let go of Henry. Sungmin kept swinging the book onto the woman’s head, yelling curse word after curse word. Finally, after too many swings to count, after too many disgusting sounds to remember, Sungmin straightened his back and faced his friends, his face covered in droplets of blood.

“Henry, are you alright?” Sungmin asked, throwing the book aside.

“I-I’m fine, hyung.” Henry, like everyone else, thought Sungmin was considered to be weak. Obviously, that wasn’t the case at all.

“Yah, what’s wrong with you guys!!” Sungmin turned to the couple still standing where they had been before Henry was attacked. “Couldn’t you see he needed help?!”

“Hyung, it’s fine, don’t get worked up like this.” Henry felt the need to calm Sungmin down, he had never seen him get angry like this and he was scared what would happen.

“No, it’s fine, Henry.” Zhou Mi smiled apologetically at his best friend. “We-”

Before Zhou Mi could finish talking, they all turned to the hallway that housed the restrooms because of the loud growling sound. A horde of zombies were making their way towards the foursome.

“Shit! Run!”

\---

Youngwoon, Jungsu, and Kibum ended up running to Youngwoon’s house. They weren’t sure if they were going to stay there or not, they hardly even had a plan. They just wanted to get safe for the time being.

The three of them were now holed up in Youngwoon’s room, Youngwoon laying atop his bed, Jungsu underneath the bed (he was too afraid to come out by now), and Kibum sitting on the only chair in the room, reading the book he took with him.

Youngwoon, because of the lack of anything else to do, glanced at Kibum. The boy had always confused him. He hardly showed any emotion-no happiness, no sadness, no anger, he didn’t even look happy while reading. He was always calm no matter what. And Youngwoon was pretty sure a smile had never been plastered on the young boy’s face. Sure, Youngwoon knew he wasn’t normal, but he didn’t feel like it was his place to ask about it.

But, once Kibum was asleep, his head at a weird angle because of the uncomfortable sleeping position he was in, his curiosity got the better of him.

“Jungsu?” Youngwoon asked.

“What?” Jungsu asked quietly.

“Would you please come up here? You’re acting ridiculous right now.”

After a few seconds of silence, Jungsu bolted out from underneath the bed and quickly jumped into Youngwoon’s arms. “What do you want? I’m not safe because of you.”

Youngwoon laughed into his lover’s brown hair. “I was just wondering about something.”

“What?”

“Kibum. I mean, I know he’s not really...normal, I guess. But-”

A frown was suddenly covering Jungsu’s face. He had known Kibum since childhood, he had _protected_ Kibum since childhood. Jungsu was the brother that Kibum wished he had had. And he thought it wasn’t really anybody’s business to know about Kibum.

“Why do you care?”

“Don’t ask it like that, angel. I’m just curious, that’s all. If it’s something you don’t want to tell me, that’s fine.”

“I can tell you. It’s not like Kibum would care if I did.” Jungsu cast a guilty look at the younger boy across the room.

“Why?”

Jungsu sighed. “He has Schizoid Personality Disorder. Which basically means that he can’t feel much. Or can’t express his feelings if he has them. That’s why he’s the way he is.”

“Oh.” How else could Youngwoon really reply to that? “Now I feel kind of bad…But does that means he hears voices and sees shit too?”

“No, it’s different than schizophrenia. He’s just...he can’t form intimate relationships with anybody, and-”

“Wow, that must suck for you, since you adore him so much.”

Jungsu bitterly smiled at his boyfriend. “Yeah, it does kind of suck, doesn’t it? But I’m a better brother than his real one ever was.”

“Care to explain?”

“Not really.”

“Figured.”

\---

Kibum had heard their whole conversation. It was weird for Kibum to hear about his disorder. He didn’t feel that he was different than everyone else ( _cause you can’t feel, you dipshit_ ), but he figured he must be from the way the two talked about him.

Then he thought of Jungsu. It was true that people with his disorder didn’t want to form close relationships with anymore (my family is to blame for that), but did he feel close with Jungsu at all? Sure, Jungsu had been his hyung for most of his life. Jungsu had stood up for him when his brother was being a douche. But so what? Did that mean Kibum had to feel something strong towards him?

_Huh...maybe I am different from everyone else..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's some links if you're confused as to what Schizoid Personality Disorder is:
> 
> http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/schizoid-personality-disorder/basics/definition/con-20029184
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizoid_personality_disorder


	4. On A Leash

After a night of walking and being attacked only a few times, Donghae, Heechul, and Hangeng had made it to the place that Hangeng said was the safest: his family’s summer cabin.

The three of them walked into the roomy cabin, too shocked to know how to act normally anymore. They ended up deflating on the large, black couch in the living room. They were all quiet for a few minutes, taking in the scenery of the cabin: it was a large cabin. It was covered in pictures of Hangeng and his family. There was a fireplace directly in front of the threesome on the couch. It would’ve been nice to be there if it wasn’t for the circumstances they were under.

“Well, this is fucking wonderful, isn’t it?” Heechul asked and laughed without humor. “I always thought the zombie apocalypse would be way more god damn exciting, but I guess I didn’t take into account that it could actually ruin our fucking lives for good.”

Then to everyone’s surprise, Heechul covered his face with his hands and started crying and trembling.

“Shit, Heechul.” Donghae sighed and started rubbing comforting circles onto his friend’s back. “I’m sorry, I know it’s a lot to take in right now.”

“I’ll make some tea for you.” Hangeng quickly dismissed himself from the couch and nearly ran to the kitchen.

“Come on, Chul, it’s so weird seeing you cry. Can’t you knock it off?” Donghae swallowed the tears down, not wanting Heechul to see him cry as well. He could do that when he was alone, but, for now, he had to be the strong one.

“God, Hae!” Heechul uncovered his face and Donghae finally got to see the princess broken. His eyes were red, his cheeks were wet and covered in tears, and his lips were bloody from biting them. “I don’t want to live like this.”

“Neither do I. None of us do. But there could be a way to stop this-this..whatever _this_ is. I promise you, Chul. Everything will be okay.”

“Why don’t we all just kill ourselves here? There isn’t going to be much waiting for us if we survive. If those fucking creatures ever go away. Let’s just take the easy way out.”

“This isn’t like you! What happened to the strong, unbreakable Heechul I grew up with?! If I’m willing to try to live, I want you by my side the whole time. Hangeing too. Promise me you’ll try to live. Okay?”

Heechul finally locked eyes with his dear friend. The look in Donghae’s eyes were fierce. That look was strong, wasn’t scared, it made him look like he wants to live. It made Heechul want to live too.

“Fine.” Heechul attempted to grin at Donghae. “I’ll live. Kim fucking Heechul won’t die easily.”

\---

“Don’t you think that’s a little excessive?”

Hyukjae finished rubbing his mother’s lotion on his face (which happened to be green) and was now holding the purple eyeshadow to make vein-like patterns on his face.

“The zombies’s faces are literally just green. You don’t need the purple.”

“Would you shut up?” Hyukjae asked, only half serious. “I know what I’m doing.”

After Hyukjae thought he looked like a convincing walking dead creature, he turned to Donghee. “It’s camouflage. I have less of a chance of dying than you do.”

Donghee rolled his eyes. “You may look like one of those things, but you still smell like fresh meat.”

“If we’re going to search for the loves of our lives, we better leave now.” Hyukjae said after glancing at the clock on the wall-4:30 p.m.

“Alright, fine. Grab your weapon and let’s go.”

After Hyukjae grabbed the knife he had almost sliced Donghee up with, him and Donghee went out the door of the house they had decided to stay at and into instant danger.

The two mostly stayed out of sight by hiding in bushes and cowering behind buildings, hiding behind anything that would keep them safe. The two had been at it for almost 2 hours when they, on their way to a building across the street corner they were at, bumped into something solid.

Hyukjae, who had been leading and who had bumped into whatever it was, fell onto the ground, screaming and begging for mercy. He stopped once he realized the zombie hadn’t bit a good chunk out of his juicy neck. He dared to open his eyes and saw his fellow classmate and friend, Jongwoon.

“Jongwoon!!” Hyukjae yelled happily. “What are you doing out here?!”

“I was up there.” Jongwoon pointed to a store that had been abandoned for years. “I was at the top, looking out the window when I saw you two. Just to let you know, you two didn’t exactly stay hidden very well. If I had been a zombie-”

“Apparently someone thought you were one.” Donghee nudged Hyukjae’s shoulder.

Hyukjae quickly turned to glare at his best friend, and then turned back to Jongwoon, a smile brightening his face once again. “Come live with us, hyung!”

“W-What?” Jongwoon looked taken aback.

“You really can if you want to! It’s just Donghee and I in my house. You can search for Donghae and Eunji with us! You want to, don’t you?”

“Well, uh, sure. Let me go back into the building and get my stuff.”

“Don’t worry, we have all the time in the world to wait.”

\---

To say that being in a teacher’s house is uncomfortable is an understatement.

After Ryeowook had been saved by Mr. Choi ( _oh, no, it’s okay to call me Chunghee_ ), the two had found a safe haven in _Chunghee’s_ apartment. Ryeowook was sitting on the soft, slightly stained carpet in the cramped living room while Chungee took a shower. He had actually been in there for almost an hour, so Ryeowook was kind of starting worry.

Kind of.

Ryeowook, bored of sitting by himself, walked a few feet until he was in the equally cramped kitchen. He opened the fridge, pulled out a bottle of water, and took a long sip. Some water had dribbled down his chin, but before he could clean it up, he heard a voice.

“Sorry I took so long.”

Ryeowook almost choked on the last of the water that had been going down his throat. He wiped the mess off his face and looked almost guiltily at his teacher. “It’s fine. I didn’t notice.”

Chunghee nodded and looked at the pile of clothes in his hands. “I’m sorry, Ryeowook, but can you move? I need to take my clothes to the washing machine and the only way to it is the door behind you.”

Ryeowook quickly put the water bottle back in the fridge and stumbled past his teacher. “I’m sorry, sir.”

Chunghee chuckled lightly as he walked away. “You’re fine.”

After he was gone, Ryeowook, not even bothering to make it to the couch, collapsed onto the floor between the kitchen and living room. He knows he should feel a little weird around someone who was just his teacher the day before, but he actually felt beyond creeped out. He wasn’t even sure why, he just knew that something wasn’t right.

Ryeowook, standing up on shaking legs, was walking down the hall to the bathroom when he noticed an open door. He peeked inside and looked at the boring room. It was obviously a bedroom because one of the only objects in the room was a dirty, unmade bed. Ryeowook hesitantly walked to the bed, disturbed by how empty the room was. Because it was completely silent, he jumped when the creature by the right side of the bed leaped at him, being pulled back by the leash around it’s throat.

Ryeowook jumped back, as far away from the creature as he could. No, it wasn’t a creature, it was a corpse. Why Mr. Choi would have a corpse-a zombie-tied up in his room, he didn’t know.

While he was leaving the room on legs that felt like jello, he noticed a picture on the only thing in the room beside the bed-the desk. In the picture, Mr. Choi had a large smile on his face and his arm around the shoulders of a tall, pretty girl next to him. The girl also had a bright smile on her face. They both looked so young.

Ryeowook risked a look at the zombie on the floor. Like the girl in the picture, the zombie had long hair and a similar face, though it was hard to tell because of the decomposition. When Ryeowook realized what this meant, he flinched.

_Shit...Mr.Choi has his zombie girlfriend tied up in his room!_

Fearing his teacher’s mental state, Ryeowook decided he had to get out as soon as possible. But, before he could turn to leave, he heard a voice behind him.

“I guess you found Jin-ri then.”

Before Ryeowook could turn towards the cold voice, something was smashed against his head, and he fell to the ground, dead to the world.

\---

“Did you hear that?” Hangeng asked while the three of them were eating dinner in the kitchen (thank goodness they hadn’t run out of food yet. But they were close to doing just that). He opened the blinds covering the window directly above the kitchen sink and stared out into the darkness.

“Hear what?” Donghae asked, his heart starting to beat faster.

“I thought I heard something outside...I think someone might be out there.”

“So?” Heechul asked, not letting the possibility of an attack stop him from eating. “Who gives a shit? If it’s a person, we don’t let them in. And if it’s a zombie, we kill it.”

“I’m gonna go check it out.” Hangeng grabbed the shotgun that had been in the closet, pumped it, and made his way to the front door.

Donghae stood up. “Should I come-”

“No, Donghae, stay there. I’ll be quick.”

Hangeng, holding the gun possessively to his side, opened the door and stepped out into the black night. At first, nothing happened. Everything was quiet and peaceful, it seemed. But then he stepped right into a tall figure. Hangeng pulled the gun up and pointed it right at the mystery person’s chest.

“Calm down!!” The person yelled. “It’s me! It’s Siwon!”

“Siwon?” Hangeng put down the gun quickly. “What the hell are-”

“Can I come in? Please?” Siwon sounded scared and out of breath. Hangeng knew that Heechul said no one could stay, but Hangeng felt so bad for Siwon, they couldn’t really say no, could they?

“Sure, come in.”


	5. Surgery

After escaping the zombie horde from the library, the foursome ended up resting at a gas station (which they were careful to check out this time). Zhou Mi and Kyuhyun were in one of the corners of the station, cuddled up for warmth and protection. While Henry and Sungmin were sipping coffee and sitting at one of the uncomfortable booths.

“Are you okay?” Sungmin asked for about the fifth time that night.

“Hyung, I’m fine.” Henry said, concentrating on sipping his coffee and choosing not to think of anything else.

“I just want to look out for you, you know.”

“I know that. I just don’t need looking out for.”

Sungmin laughed bitterly and drank the last bit of his black coffee. “I highly doubt that. You’re always getting yourself into trouble. You never take things seriously. You never think about the risks. Someone needs to look after you or you’ll end up dead.”

Henry visibly flinched. “Zhou Mi-” He was about to say that Zhou Mi was the one who had always looked after him, but didn’t he have someone more important to take care of? Wasn’t it kind of a given that someone would pick their lover over their best friend anyday?

Henry cleared his throat. “Like I said, I can take care of myself.”

Sungmin started rotating his paper cup around, watching the one droplet of coffee travel around the cup over and over again. “Aren’t you scared of dying?”

“Not really. Maybe I don’t like the idea of being eaten alive by a zombie, but I’m not afraid of them.” Henry hoped it wasn’t obvious he was lying. “There are worse things to fear.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know.” Henry gulped down the rest of his sugary drink and refused to look at Sungmin.

“Love?” Sungmin asked with a slight smile on his face.

Henry blushed. “Love is nothing to be afraid of. If you love somebody…” He stopped talking because he realized when he had said there are worse things to fear, he probably, subconsciously had meant love.

“That’s what I thought.” Sungmin nodded and crushed his paper cup. “Maybe you’re only scared of love because of who you love. You feel like you shouldn’t love that person.”

“That’s ridiculous. What do I know about love? I’m only sixteen years old.”

“Why does age matter? People, no matter what age, can fall in love. Falling in love means you care about that person more than anybody else. You want to protect them, and them to do the same for you. You want to be around them all the time. I don’t know, love is a good thing, but so many people act like it’s bad to be in love.”

“I don’t love him.” Henry whispered, ashamed to even think of his best friend that way.

“I also know that we can’t pick who we fall in love with.” After flashing a brief smile at Henry, Sungmin stood up, threw his crushed cup away, and went into the restroom.

\---

“Siwon?” Donghae asked as the tall man walked into the cabin.

“Hangeng-” Heechul began to say disapprovingly.

“Calm down.” Hangeng put his hands up to attempt to ward off Heechul’s anger. “We can’t turn him away. He’s our friend.”

“Can I stay? Please? I have no where else to go.” Siwon begged, pale hands clasping together. Sweat was running down his face. And there was a giant red stain on the stomach of his shirt.

“Shit, Siwon! What happened to you?!” Donghae yelled, standing up and running over to the younger man.

Siwon glanced down at his shirt. The blood stain was spreading and some was even dripping onto the floor. “I was stabbed.”

“Jesus! Hangeng is there a first aid kit here or something?!” Donghae led the tall man to the couch and forced him to lay down and take off his shirt. The wound was a long horizontal cut, blood not coming out at an alarming rate, but it there still seemed to be a lot leaving Siwon’s body.

“Y-Yeah. Ah, shit, hold on.” Hangeng stumbled to the same closet that the shotgun had come from. He threw a bunch of unnecessary items out in search of the thing they needed. Finally, he found the first aid kit and brought it over to Donghae. “H-Here.”

“Shit, shit shit…” Donghae mumbled as he searched for gloves, a needle, and some thread. When he finally found both of them, Hangeng looked at him in disbelief.

“Donghae, you’re not-”

“This is a emergency, Hangeng. Get a towel, and hurry.” Donghae put the gloves on while Hangeng ran to the bathroom.

“What are you doing, Donghae? It’s really not that bad. You don’t have to-” Siwon said, his face getting more and more pale and damp.

“Who stabbed you, Siwon?”

“Someone in a group I ran into. I asked if I could join them, but they kept telling me no. For some reason, I thought it was a good idea to keep trying to convince them I should join. So the leader or whatever he was stabbed me.”

“I’m not sure how deep the wound is, so I’ll need to stitch it up, okay? I’m sorry.”

“But…” Siwon closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Have you ever-”

“I don’t want to scare you, but I took a fashions class once. You know, where we made our own pajama pants.”

“I’m going to die.”

“Donghae.” Heechul was suddenly by Donghae’s side. “Let me do it. I grew up around my grandmother who loved to sew. I’m the only one who could do this.”

“Chul?” Donghae knew that his dear friend was not so secretly scared of blood. But, probably because it was one of his friends who was in danger, he was willing to be strong. That warmed Donghae’s heart. “Are you sure?”

At the same time Heechul said he was sure, Hangeng came back out with the white towel.

Heechul and Donghae traded positions. Heechul put on the gloves and took the towel from Hangeng’s hands. “Hey, Siwon. You ready?”

“No. Not at all.”

“I’m sorry.” Heechul poured some alcohol on Siwon’s gaping wound. “I’m really sorry that we can’t even go to a god damn hospital to get you help. But I’ll try to help you.” He set his hand below his friend’s wound. Then he grabbed the needle and thread and got to work.

It was hard work for Heechul. It was hard to hear Siwon’s gasps for air and his praying was even worse. It was hard to feel the worry radiating off of Donghae’s and Hangeng’s bodies. It was hard to not focus on the blood pouring out of Siwon. It was hard to keep his hands steady. It was hard to have everyone depending on you. It was hard to not fuck up.  
But, in the end, after the final loop of thread, Heechul looked down at his work and felt almost proud (he probably would have felt proud if he hadn’t felt so god damn sick). Siwon’s wound was stitched up and an angry red color. But, while it was hideous (and pulsing, ew), he finally stopped bleeding all over Heechul’s gloves and Hangeng’s couch. There was still dried blood all over his stomach though.

“Come on, Siwon. Can you stand up?” Heechul put his hand on Siwon’s arm gently. “We need to get all that blood off your stomach.”

Siwon, still slightly gasping for air, sat up. “I can do that myself, Heechul. I’ll be fine.” He stood up slowly. “Can someone show me where the bathroom is?”

“I will.” Hangeng grabbed Siwon’s arm softly and led him to the bathroom.

“Chul, you okay?” Donghae kneeled by his friend, who was still on the ground.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Heechul pulled off the red, sticky gloves. “God, I think I’m gonna be sick.”

\---

When Ryeowook woke up, he was blinded by the light coming from the window directly across from the bed he was laying in.

Actually, the bed he was tied to. His feet were tied by ropes, connected to the feet of the bed, and his hands were handcuffed to the head post. He, still half awake, tried to shake his hands out of the handcuffs, the metal rubbing against the wrist flesh, causing it to turn even more red. He stopped once he heard the voice speak to him.

“You might as well stop trying to escape.”

Ryeowook stopped and turned towards the rough voice. He saw Mr. Choi (no, he was a different person now…) standing in the doorway, drying his hands with a towel.

“What are you doing to me?” Ryeowook asked, tears choking him. “Let me go.”

Chunghee sighed and moved forward, causing Ryeowook to attempt to scoot farther away from him. “I just wanted to make sure you couldn’t leave without me explaining why I still have Jin-ri here.”

“Please...please let me go. I’ll listen to you, just please uncuff me.”

Chunghee seemed to think about it and then uncuffed Ryeowook’s hands. “I’m keeping your feet tied to the bed, okay?” He sat by Ryeowook, the younger boy again trying to move away from him. “Can I explain now?”

“You better.”

“I...before I came to the school yesterday, Jin-ri came over and...we got in a fight and it just got out of control and...I hit her with a vase and...she died. I didn’t know what to do when she came back alive. She wasn’t herself but she was alive. I thought that I would deal with her after I came back from school, but...well, you know how that turned out.” He laughed bitterly.

“She was the first.” Ryeowook muttered.

“That can’t be true.” Chunghee shook his head. “She couldn’t have been the first.”

“Mr. Choi-”

Jin-ri suddenly made a noise and attempted to bite Ryeowook’s arm. Ryeowook had no choice but to move away from Jin-ri and move closer to Chunghee.

“Ryeowook, I’m not going to hurt you. Why are you worried?”

Why am I worried? Why am I worried? “Was it an accident?”

The moment that those words escaped from his lips, he knew he shouldn’t have said it. He saw the anger appear on Chunghee’s face.

“Of course it was an accident. Why wouldn’t it have been?”

Before Ryeowook could fix his mistake, the sound of glass being broken caused them both to jump. Chunghee stood up. “I’m going to check it out.”

“Wait, Chunghee-” Chunghee left the room before Ryeowook could complain about his feet still being tied to the bed. He sat up and tried to find a way to untie them, but the knot was on the floor and out of his reach. He was only attempting to untie it when he heard Chunghee’s scream from the living room.

Ryeowook froze. Then he hurried and tried to find something that would break the rope and let him go free. On the table next to the bed, he searched for a sharp object. With shaking hands, he opened the drawer, and saw a knife (why it was there, he didn’t exactly think about it). He sat up and moved the knife back and forth, trying to break the rope. He only stopped when he heard Chunghee become silent. The only sounds he heard were the moans coming from the hallway.

“Help…” Ryeowook whispered as he kept trying to be released from the tight ropes. Tears filled his eyes, making it hard to see what he was doing. Eventually, he cut one of the ropes, and started working on the other. This rope broke easier than the other. When he stood up, he nearly fell because of the lack of blood to his feet. He stumbled and fell right into the zombie.


	6. Shock

The zombie moaned loudly, his milky eyes seeming to stare right into Ryeowook’s. His arms reached out to grab onto Ryeowook when a knife was suddenly planted in the middle of his forehead.

Blood started pouring from the head wound as the zombie fell to the floor. Ryeowook wasted no time in running out of the room, running into the dead body of Mr. Choi. His throat was opened up, everything exposed. Ryeowook didn’t know what he should do to make sure his ex-teacher didn’t come back to life. But Ryeowook didn’t want to stab him, it felt heartless somehow.

Then again, tying someone to the bed was heartless too.

Ryeowook drug Mr. Choi’s body to the kitchen and grabbed a knife. “Mr. Choi, I’m sorry.” That was the last thing Ryeowook said before he stabbed the knife into Mr. Choi’s head.

\---

“Maybe we shouldn’t be here.” Jungsu said as him, Youngwoon, and Kibum ate lunch together.

“What do you mean?” Youngwoon asked. “We have enough food, and we have-”

“Maybe we should try to find our friends. I miss them a lot. I can’t even think about the youngest of our friends-other than Kibum, of course-being alone out there. I hope all of them aren’t alone. Oh god.” Jungsu started tearing up. “I want to make sure they’re okay.”

“Jungsu…” Youngwoon sighed. “I don’t know. I mean, are you willing to leave this place? To not be protected anymore?”

“Mhm.” Jungus nodded. “Kibum-ah, would you come with us?”

Kibum finished drinking his water before he responded. “Of course I would.”

\---

Hyukjae was resting at the home while Donghee and Jongwoon were out searching for any of their lost friends. Hyukjae was forced to stay home because of he was getting sick, his throat sore, one of his eyes was swollen, and his nose was running. He didn’t want to stay home, he wanted to find Donghae, but Donghee convinced him it was the best option. So, right now, Hyukjae was messing with his phone.

He didn’t exactly find it surprising when the Samsung Galaxy S4 said no internet was available, but he did find it frustrating. He tried to text Donghae, but the message had a red exclamation point under it, letting Hyukjae know it didn’t send.

With his hopes set too high, he logged onto his Kakaotalk account and tried to message Donghae on there. Again, his desperate message wasn’t sent. So he tapped onto the google chrome app, his brain telling him it could work, while his heart told him it was useless to hope.

His heart turned out to be right.

The message displayed on the screen told Hyukjae that either the internet wasn’t working or the website itself was having difficulties. But Hyukjae knew which one it was. He also knew that the internet would probably never work again. And he wouldn’t be able to contact Donghae until they met face to face once again.

Even though Donghae couldn’t get his messages, Hyukjae went back onto Kakaotalk and wrote almost twelve messages to his boyfriend. Even if he couldn’t see them, Hyukjae somehow felt better letting his feelings out in the open. He could at least pretend Donghae read them.

_Please don’t be dead, Donghae. I don’t know what I’ll do without you._

\---

Donghee and Jongwoon were on the lookout, their eyes open for any of their lost friends. They had been running around in circles almost all day, hoping one of them would appear to them. They were completely taken off guard when they saw one of their friends walking towards them.

Covered in blood.

“Ryeowook?” Jongwoon asked. The boy’s face, where it wasn’t covered in bright red blood, was pale as he had seen a ghost. His hands were shaking, and he had a vacant look in his eyes. “Ryeowook-ah? Are you okay? What happened to you?”

“Jesus…” Donghee put his arm around Ryeowook’s shoulder. “Can he hear us?”

“I think he’s in shock.” Jongwoon said. “We should take him back to the house.”

\---

To say Hyukjae was shocked when Donghee and Jongwoon walked in with an empty eyed Ryeowook would be an understatement. He stood up quickly and ran over to Ryeowook. He needed to make sure he was okay.

“Is he okay? What happened to him?” Hyukjae noticed the blood on his face and his eyes scoped over Ryeowook’s body to see if he was injured anywhere else. He was glad to see he wasn’t.

“We don’t know what happened to him, he’s in shock.” Donghee said. “We should take him to the bedroom or something. We need to let him lie down. He’s probably seen some serious shit.”

“Yeah, let’s take him to the room.” Hyukjae said.

All three of them lead the mute, vacant boy to the bedroom they all shared. They put him gently onto the mattress. They became even more scared when the boy didn’t close his eyes, he didn’t move, he didn’t make a noise. It was like he was a broken toy.

“God, I hope he’s okay.” Hyukjae said.

“He’s just in shock. I mean, don’t people usually come out of it?” Donghee asked.

“Wait.” Jongwoon held up a hand, deep in thought. “I think I remember learning about this in a class last year...I think we should check if he’s breathing. Or if his heart is beating or something. And, uh, if it isn’t...we do CPR.”

“I’ll check.” Hyukjae put his head down onto Ryeowook’s chest, listening for a heartbeat. Because of the fear, he didn’t hear it for a second. But then he heard the slow, yet steady thumping of his friend’s heart. “It’s slow. I don’t think we need to do anything but…”

“Ryeowook?” Jongwoon asked and reached out to shake his friend, but Donghee pulled him back at the last second, shaking his head, letting Jongwoon know that that was a bad idea.

“We can’t just leave him here like this, Donghee.” 

“What else can we do?” Donghee asked.

Jongwoon sighed. “I don’t know what we should do…We need to make sure he stays warm, though. I think that was something we had to do too…God, I’m so emotionally exhausted by this.”

“Don’t worry.” Hyukjae grabbed a blanket from the chair in the room, setting it gently on his friend. “This should work.”

“I’ll get dinner started then.” Jongwoon said and left the room.

There was a tense silence surrounding the remaining two in the room. They were too busy staring at their fallen friend to think about anything else. They hadn’t realized how close to death they really were before finding Ryeowook.

Donghee cleared his throat into his closed fist. “Were you able to contact Donghae?”

“No.” Hyukjae said sadly. “The internet doesn’t work. Neither does texting. We’ll have to find them the hard way.”

“Are you feeling any better?”

“Yeah, I’m feeling fucking fantastic.” Hyukjae muttered under his breath while leaving the room.

\---

After the three of them ate dinner, Jungsu was supposed to be packing a bag of everything he felt he had to bring on their trip to the outside world. But, when Youngwoon walked into their room (and his old one), he saw Jungsu laying on the bed, curled up into the fetal position.

“Jungsu, what are you doing?”

“I got scared again.” Jungsu said, not looking up at his boyfriend.

“Kibum is waiting out there. Let’s hurry and pack.”

“It’s not like he’ll get bored.”

“For god’s sake, Park Jungsu.” Youngwoon climbed into the bed next to his adorable little lover. He wrapped his arms around his waist tightly, as a way to tell Jungsu that he would never let anything hurt him. He would always keep him close. “You’re the one who wanted to leave.”

“I still do. I’m just...I don’t know. I’m just nervous.”

“I know you are, but-”

Time is a silly thing sometimes. In your most traumatic moments, time goes so fast that you can’t stop it. But during the most boring, uneventful moments, time goes so slow that it almost drives you insane. When the rotted corpse’s head popped up, Youngwoon’s eyes didn’t seem to acknowledge it. It was only a second later that the corpse’s teeth were in Jungus’s fleshy shoulder, his blood splattering Youngwoon’s face.

That’s when time stopped for Youngwoon. One second, Jungsu had been touching Youngwoon, his eyes had done the twitching thing they did when he was nervous, he was alive. Only a second passed and he was clutching at the wound, turning more and more pale. A second later, the zombie that had bit him was now biting the fingers wrapped around Jungsu’s shoulder wound.

Youngwoon froze. Seeing Jungsu like this was the most heartbreaking thing he had ever seen. But he also didn’t know how to stop this. He didn’t have to worry about it anymore after the zombie drug Jungsu to the floor to finish what it started.

Youngwoon regretted standing up the second he did because then he saw what the zombie was doing to his Jungsu. His Jungsu who was still alive. His Jungsu who was clutching at his now torn open throat, blood running through his spread fingers. The zombie was now biting one of his arms. The last thing Jungsu saw before his heart gave its final, weak beat was Youngwoon. The last thing he ever said to Youngwoon, the first love of his life was:

“Go.”


	7. Flesh

Even though he wanted to do nothing more than stay with his lover, Youngwoon knew it was too late to even attempt to save Jungsu. He was dead. He was eaten alive by a fucking zombie. Youngwoon knew that Jungsu would want him to keep on living, and keep Kibum alive, so Youngwoon planned to do just that, damn it.

So, after Jungsu had said his final word, Youngwoon instantly ran out to the living room where Kibum was sitting at the couch reading that god damned book of his. Youngwoon noticed how the back door was open, how no one had noticed until now, he didn’t know. Or didn’t care, really. He just had to get himself and Kibum to safety.

“Kibum, get up off your ass, we need to go!” Youngwoon yelled.

Kibum closed the book, his thumb still on the page he was reading. “Where’s Jungsu-hyung?”

“He’s not coming with us. Hurry the fuck up, would you?!”

Kibum, sensing the urgency almost coming off of Youngwoon, put the book in his back pocket and rushed to be by Youngwoon’s side.

The two, after going outside, walking down the porch steps, were surprised by how dark it had gotten. It was only seven p.m., yet it was already getting hard to see a few feet in front of their faces. That’s probably why Kibum didn’t see the zombie until it was right by his side.

Thank goodness Youngwoon turned at the time he did. He saw a large, thick walking corpse coming straight towards Kibum, its jaw unhinged so it could attack. Youngwoon ran straight towards the two, pushing Kibum out of the way so he would be bitten instead. 

And he was. The largest zombie Youngwoon had seen in his few days with dealing with the apocalypse bit right into one of his cheeks, directly below his eye. Youngwoon screamed and pushed the zombie away, causing the zombie to pull away with Youngwoon’s flesh still in his teeth.

Kibum, now on the ground, was staring at his hyung with something almost like horror on his face. Youngwoon had a gaping wound on his face. His jaw bone and his teeth were visible. Kibum couldn’t believe Youngwoon had sacrificed himself for someone like Kibum.

“Youngwoon?” Kibum asked.

“You should run, Kibum. It’s about to get ugly.”

The burly corpse stood up again, Youngwoon’s flesh still in his mouth, his mouth moving as he was chewing the skin. He seemed to smile at Youngwoon as he went forward to attack him again. That’s when Kibum decided to run.  
\---

Their second night at the gas station was just as glamorous as the first. Everyone but Henry refused to eat, Henry and Sungmin were still sleeping in that god damn uncomfortable booth, and the couple were sleeping in the corner of the store. The place still smelled like the sweat of middle aged men and cheap cologne. But things got worse the next morning.

It all started with Kyuhyun’s cry.

After that, Henry and Sungmin were both instantly awake. The moment they put their heads up, they wished they could put them back down and pretend to be asleep or something because these people looked downright dangerous.

Five people-three guys and two girls-were surrounding Zhou Mi and Kyuhyun, each of them holding a gun, different sizes and models. They hadn’t seemed to notice the other two, so Henry and Sungmin used that to their advantage.

Both of them grabbed their own weapons-Henry grabbed the metal napkin dispenser sitting at their booth, and Sungmin grabbed the knife he had been keeping in his jacket pocket. The two of them walked over to the group quietly…

And at the same time Sungmin grabbed one of the girls of the group, drug them back a few feet with the cold metal of the knife against their throat, Henry brought the napkin dispenser down onto the other girl’s head.

Which was probably a mistake, since the three remaining members of the gang all turned and pointed their guns at Henry and Sungmin. The girl Henry had hit was on the ground, blood running down her forehead, to the tip of her nose, and eventually hitting the floor. The girl glared at Henry, who was still holding the bloodied dispenser in his hands.

“Who the fuck are you guys?” One of the guys in the gang asked, his gun aimed at Sungmin’s heart.

“We’re with them.” Henry pointed to the two cowering on the floor. “Who the fuck are you assholes?”

“We’re here to take the gas station.” The guy who seemed to be the leader-the one who was pointing the gun at Sungmin. “We’re not trying to start shit, okay? Look, I can be calm.” The man put the gun down, putting up his tattoo covered hands in defeat. “My name is Baekho, by the way.” He pointed to the two guys next to him. “These two are Youngmin and Kwangmin. The girl you just hit is Jessica. And the girl your friend has the knife to is Hyori.”

Henry looked at Sungmin, mentally conversing with him, trying to decide if they should believe them. Henry decided to go along with what he thought Sungmin wanted-to be friendly with them-until he looked at Zhou Mi.

His friend was cowering on the floor, holding onto Kyuhyun for support. Was Henry really going to accept this? He was going to let these people terrorize his friends and just let them get away with it? That definitely is not the kind of person Henry is and he’s sure as hell not going to change now just because these people have guns.

“Actually, we were here first, so why don’t you people get the fuck out?” Henry asked, a smile on his face.

The leader-Baekho-frowned, his cool nature gone. “Well, I hate to put a downer on the mood, but who are the people with guns here?”

“You think I’m scared of that?” Henry asked. “You think I’m scared of dying now? Well, I’m not. So-”

“You talk way too fucking much.” Jessica said as she raised her gun and shot.

At the same time that the shot missed him, Henry threw the napkin dispenser at the large window behind Zhou Mi and Kyuhyun. Also, Sungmin threw Hyori on the floor and avoided the bullets flying at him from the three guy’s guns. Him and Henry ran out of the gas station by the front door, while Zhou Mi and Kyuhyun (after realizing Henry’s plan) climbed out of the broken window, unnoticed.

The four of them meet at the same point and all started running, while still being shot at, only half assed this time.

\---

“We’re running out of supplies.” Hangeng told Donghae, almost as if he was calm.

“We are?” Donghae sighed. “I can go get some food later, I guess.”

“I can do it.” Siwon said as he was walking into the kitchen.

“Siwon, you know we can’t ask you to do that.” Donghae said, hardly believing that Siwon would think he was well enough to do anything. “You literally just got stitched up and-”

“I’m not hurt anymore. It wasn’t even that bad to begin with. Can I go? One of you can come with me, if you’re that worried.”

“Well, fuck.” Hangeng messed with his hair. “I guess it can be me and you. In that case, I better go tell Heechul goodbye for now.” Hangeng awkwardly left the room.

“Are you absolutely sure you want to do this? You don’t have to do this to prove yourself or some shit.” Donghae raised an eyebrow at the boy, the same age as he was, but who seemed so much older and more mature somehow.

“I’m sure. I need to show you guys that you don’t have to worry about me. And I can’t take just laying in on that lumpy mattress anymore. It’s driving me up the wall.”

Donghae laughed. This conversation was nice. It almost made him feel normal again. “Alright, fine by me. You’ll have to bring a knife or something, though. To be safe and all that.” And just like that, everything was back to the present.

“Right.” Siwon looked sadly at the rack of utensils and picked out the biggest knife in the pile. “I’m not really used to this yet, I guess.”

“Yeah, me either.” Donghae smiled reassuringly at his friend.

Before Siwon could reply with how much he hated the current situation they were in, Hangeng came back into the room, scratch marks on his right cheek.

“Woah, what the hell-”

“Heechul didn’t take the news that I was leaving very...well, I’m sure you can see how he took it. Fucking Kim Heechul…” Hangeng got a wet paper towel and wiped at the bloody marks on his skin.

“Are you two even really...like, dating?” Siwon asked.

“I don’t know. Sometimes he likes me, and sometimes he likes Jongwoon more. I’m guessing he’s just overprotective over me because he can’t stand being alone. Sure, he puts up a front, but he isn’t really as bitchy as he seems. He’s such a little child sometimes...So, no, I don’t think he’s in love with me or anything, maybe I’m just a comfort tool or some shit to him.” Hangeng shrugged, acting like this didn’t bother him. But Donghae could tell that the Chinese man was becoming attached to Heechul.

“Anyway.” Hangeng turned to Donghae, the marks on his face now only red and no longer bleeding. “Have you found a way to contact Hyukjae yet?”

“Um.” Donghae turned on his phone to show his friend that there was no internet connection. “No such luck. Not even text messaging works.” He sighed and was tempted to throw the useless piece of technology against the wall as hard as he could. “I wonder if he’s tried to text me or something...I like to think he has, but-”

“What do you mean ‘I like to think he has’? Of course he’s tried!” Hangeng yelled, the marks on his face starting to ooze blood again. “He loves you.”

“Not that, Hannie. I mean, what if he hasn’t because he’s not alive?”

“Of course he is, stop being ridiculous.” Hangeng hit Siwon’s shoulder. “Let’s go then. We’ll be back soon.”

“I hope so.” Donghae said. The two of them left without responding to him.

\---

When Ryeowook finally was alive to the world once again, he thought he was in Changhee’s room once again. He sat up and grabbed the rope that tied his feet to the bed, but he only touched his ankle, his skin. Ryeowook, breathing heavily, tried to remember the last few hours, or however long it had been. And whose house was he in? It looked so familiar, but he could hardly think straight. His mind was still stuck in his teacher’s room.

“H-H…” Ryeowook attempted to yell for help, but found he had no voice. He started coughing violently, small blood splatters landed on his open palm. He was feeling faint when he saw a few shadows at the foot of whosoever bed he was in.

“Ryeowook? Are you okay?”

Ryeowook looked up and saw three of his friends standing by his side. Hyukjae, Donghee, and Jongwoon. Three people from a different part of his life. The part where it felt possible to be happy, to feel normal. God, how he wished everything was normal again. Who knew he would ever wish to go back to the place where he had been so brutally bullied.

“N-No…” Ryeowook started coughing again.

“Shit, he needs water.” Donghee said, worry covering his face. “I’ll get water for you, Ryeowook.” He said and left the room.

“God, Ryeowook, what happened to you?” Jongwoon asked.

What _had_ happened to him? He remember Mr. Choi ( _Chunghee_ ), and he remembered his girlfriend...what was her name? Jin-ri? He remembered her. She tried to eat him a few times. He remembered being tied to the bed. Didn’t he almost die too?

Donghee came back into the room with the bottle of water. “Here you go.”

Once Ryeowook took the bottle, he realized how thirsty he really was. When had he last drank something? He had never been so thankful to see this clear liquid so much in his life. And, after the bottle was finished, he saw the water again. At first he thought he was just choking, until the liquid was spraying out from between his lips.

“Ah, shit. I forgot to tell you to slow down.” Jongwoon looked at the wet carpet.

Ryeowook cleared his throat and found he could talk. “It was Mr. Choi.”

“Mr. Choi? The english teacher?” Hyukjae raised an eyebrow at Ryeowook’s seemingly random statement. “What about him?”

“I was at his house. I was alone when I...I heard something by his bed. So I walked over to see what it was, and it was his girlfriend, Jin-ri, but she wasn’t alive. She was a zombie. Then I heard him say something, and he hit me, and I passed out. When I woke up, I was tied and handcuffed to the bed. He...he...god, I don’t remember what happened next…”

“Wait, Mr. Choi tied you up? Jesus…” Donghee was staring wide eyed at Ryeowook. “And he was keeping his dead girlfriend in the house? What a fucking creep!”

“Yeah, he said something about her, I just…” Ryeowook placed a hand to his forehead to try to concentrate. “That she died that morning and then came back to life before he went to school. I said she was the first zombie and something after that, and then we heard a noise in the living room...I think he went to check it out and I heard him scream, so I searched for something to cut the rope, and I finally got it. And I had to kill the zombie...um…”

“It’s okay, Ryeowook.” Jongwoon said. “Don’t strain yourself.”

“I just can’t remember if I killed him or not…”

“Wait, you might have killed Mr. Choi?” Hyukjae asked.

“It wasn’t him, the zombie had gotten him by then. His throat was ripped open and...I think I drug him to the kitchen and I think I stabbed him in the forehead. I don’t know.” Ryeowook sighed and rested against the headboard.

“Jesus...Ryeowook, are you really okay?” Hyukjae asked.

“I’m fine. I could use some more water, though.”


	8. Crying Over Coffee

Zhou Mi, Kyuhyun, Henry, and Sungmin were all getting used to running. Once they found a nice place to stay, it seemed like something always forced them to leave. And, then they wound up running for hours on hours. Until they were forced to stop when Sungmin started puking.

So, now the four of them were resting in a vast forest. Surrounded by trees and hordes of bugs, surrounded by nothing but good ol’ nature. And they were all getting sick of it.

Now that they weren’t in the gas station, there was almost nothing to eat. The only thing they had was the candy bar Henry had in his pocket, and it was hard sharing that. Zhou Mi refused to eat it, he said it was so everyone else could eat, but Henry knew what was wrong with his best friend. It was the secret that only Henry and Zhou Mi shared. It was the painful secret that could’ve killed Zhou Mi only a year ago.

Sure, Zhou Mi’s eating disorder was the least of everyone’s worries while the zombie apocalypse was currently happening, but wasn’t Henry allowed to worry? He didn’t eat his share of the candy bar either. He offered it Zhou Mi instead, nearly begging his friend to take it. In the end, Zhou Mi ended up eating it, making Henry less worried.

When they were all trying to sleep in the forest that night, Sungmin whispered to Henry, nearly scaring the boy to death.

“Henry, aren’t you hungry?” Sungmin asked. “Why’d you give your share to Zhou Mi?”

“I swear, if you start spouting that love shit again…”

“I’m not going to, I’m just wondering. You seemed really worried and I just wondered-”

“I _am_ worried. I’m worried about everyone. I’m worried about Kyuhyun’s head injury, he may say he’s fine, but I saw it. We heard how hard that gun hit him. I’m worried about you being too worried for me. And I’m worried about Zhou Mi for other reasons I can’t talk about.”

“Why not?”

“I promised I wouldn’t.”

“You think I’m too worried for you?”

“Of course I do.” Due to his eyes finally adjusting to the dark, Henry began to see the outline of Sungmin’s body. “You think I’m so fragile just because I’m the youngest one of us. Well, I’m not fragile, I’m probably the toughest one here.”

“The best at hiding your emotions maybe.”

“Guess it’s something you get good at.”

Sungmin sighed. “Henry, can I tell you something?”

“Depends.” Henry wished for his iPod right now. Some soothing music would really be nice right now. Not that Sungmin was annoying or anything, he just sometimes didn’t know when to stop talking.

“You know how you always tease Kyuhyun for dating Zhou Mi because he’s a year younger?”

“Yep. Why?”

“Would you tease me if I was interested in someone a year younger than me?”

“Ah, Jesus, hyung. I don’t think of you like-”

“Henry, seriously.” Even though Henry couldn’t see him, he could almost see Sungmin roll his pretty brown eyes. “Not _you_. You’re like the little brother I never wanted.”

“Then who? Zhou Mi too? Is every-fucking-body in love with him?”

“No, Henry. Ryeowook.”

“Ryeowook?” Now that Henry thought about it, he could see those two together. They were both romantic and cute and all that shit. “Really? Oh.”

“Oh? That’s it?”

“What do you want me to say exactly?”

“I want to find him, Henry. I want to know he’s okay. I don’t know, sometimes I feel jealous of you. Even though he doesn’t have the same feelings for you, you still get to see Zhou Mi everyday. You still get to know he’s alright. But for me…” Sungmin laughed bitterly. “I’m going out of my mind. All I think of is how he could be dead. All I want to do is find him and protect him. I don’t know anymore...I’ve been feeling so depressed lately and it’s…”

“Hyung…” Sungmin depressed? Sungmin who was always happy, always had everything in their life together, always helped other people get their shit together was depressed? “We’ll find him. Don’t worry, okay?”

_Jesus...I knew I was selfish before, but now that I’ve heard Sungmin say this...I’m acting ridiculous. I get to see him everyday, I know he’s okay, but Sungmin-hyung has had it rough, hasn’t he? God, hyung, I’m sorry._

“I hope we’ll find him, Henry. But I don’t have my hopes set too high. It’s better that way.”

\---

Hangeng and Siwon ended up getting forced to stay at the gas station they were travelling to, having to stay through the whole night because of having to stay out of view of another, more dangerous looking gang just a few feet away. In the morning, the gang of five left, for good or for a few hours, Siwon and Hangeng didn’t know. They just knew that had to hurry.

They packed the bags they had with them with countless items they could find. Sure, Heechul wouldn’t really like the junk food they were bringing home, but sometimes princesses didn’t get their way.

After they had gotten enough food to last them at least a few weeks (hopefully-Donghae sure ate a lot), they looked outside the broken window they had come in through, on the lookout for the gang of five coming back.

“Wait, did you see that all of them had guns?” Hangeng asked Siwon. “Do you think they left any weapons here?”

“Why do we even have to check?” Siwon asked, his eyes pleading with Hangeng to hurry the hell up. “We have a gun already, and we have a few knives, we’re fine with weapons already.”

“I don’t know, I guess so…” Hangeng felt uneasy looking at that broken window. It felt like it was almost a clue. “Hey, Siwon? What if some of our friends had been here before that gang?”

“Do you think they got killed by them?”

“I don’t know. But...nevermind, it was stupid to think about in the first place.” Hangeng hefted the bag over his shoulder. “Let’s go.”

They both weren’t expecting it when they were ambushed by the zombie that they had failed to notice was right outside the front door.

\---

When Hyukjae woke up the next morning, Donghee and Ryeowook were on either side of him on the mattress. Hyukjae sighed and cursed his position because he could hardly move an inch without waking one of the other boys up.

_God damn it, why the hell did I fall asleep in the middle? I can’t move without waking Ryeowook up and he needs sleep. Well...then fuck it, I’ll wake up Donghee._

Hyukjae turned to face his best friend and, purposefully rolled over him to land on his feet on the floor. Donghee, as Hyukjae expected, woke up right away.

“What the hell..” Donghee mumbled and turned towards Hyukjae. “Did you just roll on me? Hyuk-”

“Sorry, Hee. I just really need to pee and I wasn’t going to wake Ryeowook up, since he needs sleep more than you do. Forgive me.” Hyukjae flashed him a v-sign and a cheeky smile and left the room before Donghee could throw his pillow at his friend.

After Hyukjae was done in the bathroom, he went out to the kitchen where Jongwoon was falling asleep by the coffee machine.

“Long night?” Hyukjae asked.

“Shit!” Jongwoon jumped, causing his head to hit the counter directly above the coffee machine. “Ah, fuck, Hyukjae, seriously.” He rubbed the back of his head, clearly in pain. “I woke up at, like, six or something, and I couldn’t get back to sleep, so I came out here and read the newspaper-the one from a few weeks ago, since, you know...and that was boring as hell, so I decided to make coffee, but...god, I’m tired.”

“When you’re tired, you get sassy and have a huge potty mouth.” Hyukjae couldn’t help but laugh at his friend.

“Yeah, and because of you I have a huge wound in my head probably.”

“Yah, don’t be such a baby. It was just a small hit.”

“You probably heard my head cave in, for god’s sake.” Jongwoon poured the ruined coffee out of the machine and started over. “Let’s try this again...Did you want a cup?”

“Sure. Thanks.”

“Yeah, cause I totally owe you…” Jongwoon muttered.

“Hey, are we going to start looking again today?” Hyukjae asked after a few moments of silence (which is something Hyukjae can’t really stand).

“Hm, I don’t know. Someone will have to stay here with Ryeowook most likely. And-”

“It’ll probably be me, yeah, I know. I’m not even that sick anymore, god…”

“You’re such a child. If you’re sick, you’ll stay. Donghee and I can handle it.”

“Do you think we’ll find anymore of them?” Hyukjae’s hands started twirling together, a way to ward off anxiety.

“Hm…” Jongwoon sighed. “I don’t know. Probably not. I don’t think that’s possible, really. Plus, we don’t know who’s alive and who’s not.”

The air in the room seemed to shrink out of the room, causing Jongwoon and Hyukjae to both feel as if their lungs had stopped working. _What if…_

“Oh my god...that can’t be...our babies can’t be dead.” The “babies” of the group were what the four youngest-Zhou Mi, Ryeowook, Kibum, and Henry-had always been called. The other eleven had always acted like their fathers/mothers, and had always called them babies as a way to remind them how they would always be younger than the rest of them (all of them enjoyed that attention, except for Henry, who only pretended to hate it). “What about Jungsu and Youngwoon? Heechul and Hangeng? Those four can’t be dead, they were...they…”

That’s when Hyukjae realized that, no, actually, they could be dead. It’s not like the zombies ever stopped to think about who they were eating. They wouldn’t stop no matter how hard you were screaming for them to stop. They just didn’t fucking care how much your heart hurt when you saw one of your own die.

“Jesus...they could all be dead…” Hyukjae whispered, tears in his eyes. Everything he did reminded him of his friends in some way. His tears reminded him of how much he would cry and how Henry and Heechul would tease him to no end, how Ryeowook and Sungmin would ask if he needed to talk to somebody, how Siwon would wrap his arms around his shoulders, how Kibum would just kind of sit there, not affected in any way by Hyukjae’s tears.

God, how he missed them.

What would a world be without Sungmin’s caring touches, without Kyuhyun’s evil schemes, without Henry’s and Heechul’s endless energy, without Youngwoon’s booming voice, without Ryeowook’s cooking, without Zhou Mi’s and Jungsu’s advice, without Siwon’s positive words, without Donghee’s jokes, without Jongwoon attempting to be funny and failing miserably, without Hangeng’s dance lessons, without Kibum telling him what books to read (that he never even got to, but always told Kibum he read them to make sure he didn’t feel bad), without Donghae.

What would be the point of living in that world?

“Hyukjae…” Jongwoon sighed and walked over to his friend. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“No, it’s fine. You made me wake up and see the truth.” Hyukjae tried to smile while wiping the tears off his cheeks. “I’ll be fine.”

“Damn it, I hope we all will be.” Jongwoon said as he wrapped his arms around Hyukjae’s neck. The two cried together as another pot of coffee was ruined.


	9. Jealousy

“Kyuhyun, no!” Zhou Mi stood up as his boyfriend started to walk away. “Do you have to go back there alone, I mean, I can come with you.”

“Mimi, I’ll be fine. Really.” Kyuhyun kissed his boyfriend quickly, while ruffling his red hair. “I’ll be back before you even notice I’m gone, okay?”

“Why won’t you let me go with?”

“I don’t want you to get hurt either!”

“Then why don’t you let Henry go with you? Or Sungmin?”

“Way to throw us under the bus there, Zhou Mi.” Henry said from where he had been supposedly sleeping. “Love you, too, asshole…”

“See, Henry’s up!” Zhou Mi gestured to his best friend hopefully. “He’ll be happy to go with you!”

“Actually.” Henry sat up so he was finally looking the couple in the eyes. “I would like to stay and fucking sleep, because you know how many hours I slept last night? Three. I slept three fucking hours. I woke up so many times last night. First, because Sungmin kept snoring right by my ear. Second, because I hear you two making out at, like, I don’t know, at the asscrack of dawn. Thrid-”

“Alright, if you’re not being helpful,” Zhou Mi lightly tapped his boot against his friend’s cheek. “Go back to sleep then.”

“Now you want me to sleep.” Henry groaned and fell back onto his side.

“Look, Zhou Mi, I appreciate it, but I’ll be right back, okay?” Kyuhyun kissed his boyfriend again-causing Henry to groan loudly.

“If I hear those disgusting lips smacking sounds one more god damn time…”

“I love you, okay?” Kyuhyun kissed Zhou Mi one more time and then walked off back to the gas station to get his forgotten special item-the bracelet Zhou Mi had given them for their one year anniversary a few months before.

“Why can’t you be happy for me, Henry?” Zhou Mi asked sadly, and sat down by his best friend.

“Oh my fucking god, seriously.” Henry, brushing all the leaves off his body, sat up and looked his best friend in the eyes, right down to his soul. “I’m not happy about anything right now, okay?”

“You have really terrible morning breath.”

“Well, let me just pull out my god damn toothbrush then. Wouldn’t want my breath to bother you.”

“I love him, you know.”

“I am well aware of that fact, yes.”

“Why don’t you like anybody? Then you wouldn’t feel like the third wheel all the time.” For the first time that morning, Zhou Mi looked Henry straight into his red, tired eyes. “That must really suck.”

“It does, but I’ve always been the third wheel, so I guess I don’t mind it much anymore.” Henry shrugged. 

“It really doesn’t? Cause I’ve seen the way you look at us. When we’re all at a movie and Kyuhyun and I are kissing, I see how you look over at us and look jealous. I don’t like you feeling left out.”

_Yeah, that’s not the reason I look at you two like that, idiot. How blind can a person be?_ “I’m not the type to be blinded by love, Mimi. I’m the type who fucks somebody, says ‘well, gee, I had a great time, but I’ll never see you again’, and then goes on with their life. Love is pointless and...I don’t know, scary, I guess.”

“It’s only scary when you’re not sure if that person likes you back. In my case-”

“Ugh, please don’t remind me how Kyuhyun asked you out again. I don’t think I could take it.” Henry put his hand to his heart, faking being in pain by moaning.

“Shut up, it was romantic.” Zhou Mi hit Henry’s bicep lightly. “But you’ll find the right person someday. Luckily, you like both guys and girls.”

“Luckily I have twice the chance to fuck it up.”

“Henry, do you really feel that way about love, though? That’s kind of...I don’t know…”

“Yeah, that’s how I feel. I guess...after I saw my parent’s relationship crumble, I stopped believing in marriage first, and then love. I don’t know, isn’t it pointless? To give your whole heart to somebody, when they’re only giving half of theirs back?”

“You just haven’t met the right person yet. Once you do, you’ll be like me.”

“I hope I never get to be that bad.” _I’m pretty sure I already am, actually._

Zhou Mi smiled and ruffled Henry’s hair. He fought back a blush as his heart skipped a beat or two. _Yep, I already am that bad._

\---

“Hey, Hangeng, what took you so long!” Donghae yelled as the front door opened as he was setting up the table. “Heechul is really worried, so you might want to go talk to him.”

“Donghae…”

Donghae, having never heard Hangeng’s voice sound so scared, so frightened, turned to face his friend. Hangeng’s shirt was covered in blood, and his gun was at his side. In fact, he almost had a death grip on it. There was blood coming out both of his nostrils.

“Hangeng, what the hell-”

“It’s Siwon...they got Siwon…”

And that’s when Hangeng collapsed onto the floor.

\---

Hangeng had ran away almost thirty minutes ago. He said he was going to get help, but Siwon didn’t think it was coming. He sadly looked down at his arm. The arm the zombie had bitten. The arm that was now infected.

_This is it...I’m dead...I’m going to die…_

“Hey, who the fuck are you?”

Siwon looked up and, to his dismay, saw the gang from earlier walking towards him. He started praying right then and there.

“Hey, I asked you a question.” The guy who seemed to be the leader walked up to him. “Were you bit? Huh?” He nudged Siwon with his gun.

“Yes, I was bit. Stop pointing that thing at me, would you?” Siwon snapped. He was just so annoyed. The cabin from the gas station would only take about ten minutes to run to, so Hangeng should’ve been back ten damn minutes ago. Instead, Siwon was here bleeding out, about to become a _fucking_ zombie.

_Don’t I mean anything to them? I must, I mean, they saved me, right?_

“Fuck…” The leader mumbled. He turned to his gang, a strange look that Siwon couldn’t figure out was on his face. “What should we do, guys?”

“I know what we can do.” The girl with the long black hair and darker skin pulled out a gun. “We can shoot the fucker.”

“No, wait-” Siwon raised his hands to try to stop them.

The girl-Hyori-shot the gun, the bullet going straight through one side of Siwon’s skull, and then out the other. The bullet shattered the glass, causing glass to cover Siwon’s now lifeless body.

“Huh…” Baekho said, almost impressed. “That was quick.”

\---

Kyuhyun saw it all take place.

He saw the bullet enter Siwon’s head, he saw the blood splatter on the ground, on the wall, he could even see some blood on the glass that surrounded Siwon. He saw it all. He tried to keep it all together, he really did, but he couldn’t. He ended up throwing up right into the bushes.

He had just seen one of his very own friends die so heartlessly. So cruelly. His heart broke because of the fact that he had been watching from when the gang first showed up. And he didn’t even try to stop it? How selfish could he be? How fucking selfish…

Kyuhyun threw up again when he accidentally glanced at the body once more. And then he threw up once more when he thought about how Siwon wouldn’t become a zombie.

Instead of going to get the bracelet, he turned back around and headed back towards his friends that were still alive and breathing.

\---

“Hangeng, tell us what happened!”

Hangeng opened his eyes and almost closed them right away because of the bright light that was right above him. He groaned and felt his heartbeat in his head, pulsing endlessly. He felt like he was going to be sick.

“Hannie!!”

Hangeng opened his eyes and saw Heechul staring down at him, worry clear in his bright brown eyes. Heechul’s hands were stroking Hangeng’s face, tears starting to fill his eyes. That’s when Hangeng realized that maybe Heechul did care about him more than he thought. Maybe.

“Chullie…” Hangeng groaned and couldn’t keep his eyes open anymore. “Where am I?”

“You’re at the cabin, honey. Are you okay? What happened?”

“Is his nose bleeding again?” Donghae, after walking into the room, asked.

“No, he’s fine. I just haven’t heard what happened yet.” Heechul’s thumb started caressing Hangeng’s cheek. “Hannie?”

“Siwon is dead…” Hangeng rubbed his eyelids. “We were at the gas station and we were leaving...a zombie attacked us and it bit him before I could kill it. I told him I was going to come back here to get help, and I ran into the gang that was staying at the gas station. They had left earlier, and they were just coming back then. They attacked me, but I got away before they could kill me. That’s when I realized that they were going to kill Siwon, and it was too late…” Hangeng started feeling incredibly nauseous. “I think I’m gonna be sick.”

“Come here, Hannie.” Donghae made Hangeng sit up and put a garbage can under his chin. Hangeng threw up violently and then laid back down.

“Jesus, I feel like shit.”

Heechul laughed, tears still pouring out of his eyes. He was just so glad to see that his boyfriend would be okay. Sure, he had been beaten, but the worse he could have would be a broken nose. Maybe a slightly broken psyche too, but didn’t they all have one by now? “Hannie...does it hurt?”

“Yeah, it hurts. I think one of them broke my nose. Other than that, It’s probably just bruises.”

“So….” Donghae, not really knowing what else to do with it, put the garbage can aside. “Is Siwon definitely dead then?”

“Most likely. He was sitting right outside the gas station’s front door when I left him. And the gang of people were...dangerous and rowdy, so I don’t doubt they did something to him when they saw he was bit.” Hangeng explained.

“That isn’t fair...he survived me stitching him up.” Heechul’s tears were slowly decreasing as anger filled his eyes. “Just to die a few days later? He shouldn’t have gone…”

“He shouldn’t have. It should have just been me…” Hangeng sighed.

“Maybe we should go check. I mean, he could be alive, right?” Donghae asked, a hopeful light in his eyes.

“I don’t think so, Donghae.” Hangeng shook his head. “I really don’t think so.”

\---

“Kyuhyun!!” Zhou Mi yelled when his boyfriend walked back into their area. “Hey, baby!” Zhou Mi latched onto him like he would leave again.

“Um...I didn’t go back to the gas station.” Kyuhyun said. That’s when everyone realized how pale Kyuhyun really was. How he wasn’t wearing the bracelet. How he was nearly crying, something Kyuhyun never did (or let others see him do).

“What happened?” Sungmin and Zhou Mi both asked. Zhou Mi’s hands were instantly clutching at his boyfriend. He was checking for any bites or wounds on his boyfriend’s perfect body. There were none that he could feel.

“I saw someone die…” Kyuhyun felt the urge to throw up after thinking of Siwon’s body once again. The hole the bullet created in his forehead was red and gaping, seemingly deep, covered in shards of glass, and signified the end of one of his dear friends. He was sure his mind would never let him forget that image.

“Who was it?” Sungmin asked. “Was it someone we knew?”

“Yeah...it was Siwon.”


End file.
